Looking Up

Looking up seems to be a good thing here in Sydney. I mean that literally-- looking up. Yesterday, looking up from my...well, my shoes I guess... let me catch a fleeting glimpse at Sydney Harbour out the train window. Today, looking up unintentionally yielded once again a delicious treat.

I stayed at Uni past sunset today (which is only about 5:30. It is autumn, I must keep reminding myself--the weather is about like a South Bend spring-- most days are mid-60s and sunny) and so I walked home from the train station in darkness. I have come to relish this walk home after work. It's perfectly safe, for one thing. And it's beautiful. And my day is over, for better or for worse, and I can spend the 40-minute walk musing on the day's events, and processing/analyzing them like mad. And today would have been the same wonderful amble home as usual, but for the fact that it was dark.

Which meant that I was doing a lot of looking up--but at first for one reason and one reason only-- to avoid walking into a ginormous spider's web with my face. The first day I was here in Sydney, Ditta walked me to the neighbor's yard to show me the local spider enclave. They're proud of their spiders here. I counted about 15 spiders all larger than a coaster; one was actively sucking the life out of a recent victim. I didn't even count the spiders littler than a coaster.

Now, I'm no girlie-girl. No run-and-hide-from-small--wiggly-living-things type. Nor am I the sort that when-I-see-a-small-living-thing-in-my-house-I-trap-it-under-a-cup-and-duct tape-said-cup-to-floor-until-less-girlie-girl-(or boy)-can-dispense-with-aforementioned-small-living-thing-under-cup. But these spiders...man, they looked like trouble. Especially for a person as tall as me, with hair like mine in weather like this ( talk about humidity-- I mean trebling one's hair volume upon stepping out the front door in the morning humidity). All these components added up to impending disaster upon an accidental interaction with a low-hanging web.

So as soon as I reached the residential portion of my evening stroll, I commenced walking with my hand out in front of my face. I'm sure I looked like a complete moron, but I manage to do that regularly anyway, and without being intentional about it. After a while I came to a clearing and let my hand drop...but a distant glimmer caught my eye before I leveled my gaze--the Southern stars.

Now, most of you know that I was an astronomy minor at Calvin, and that I worked all four years at the observatory (yes yes, I know I'm a nerd. I'm over it), so I'd become quite accustomed to the stars in our own dear hemisphere. This isn't to say that I don't still marvel each and every time it's clear enough to see a star here or there, or perhaps the occasional planet or satellite...or even galaxy. But looking up tonight... was an entirely different experience. I can't remember the first time I was old enough to understand what I was seeing when I looked up at the stars, but looking up tonight was on par with that. A whole new sky. It was like
realizing for the first time that you can melt peanut butter and chocolate chips together in the microwave. Or realizing that you woke up long before your alarm and can still sleep for another 2 hours. Yeah, it was like that. Pure bliss.

My walk home took an extra 10 minutes tonight. Worth every penny.

VEGEMITE !

I had the famed Australian condiment (if you can call it that) on a piece of bread last night at dinner.

Let me tell you: Vegemite....is gross. Really, really gross. It's like Nutella, but without the goodness and sweetness and light. And it's crammed with vitamin B. I've decided I can do without this particular vitamin.

Oh well. We also had an Australian red with our dinner, and the wine here...I heartily approve of.